And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.
The 54,400 is the number counted for Issachar's host in one division of the camp, and no special lesson is attached to the number itself. The same figure of 54,400 is also given as the numbered strength of Reuben's camp within the organized arrangement. The verse is one detail of the perfect order commanded for all the journeyings, in which every tribe bore its own standard marked with the sign of its father's house and camped and journeyed under its own standard in its assigned place.
When Israel traveled the tribes marched in order under their standards in an appointed sequence under clear direction, and when Israel rested the tabernacle was erected and the tribes pitched their tents in their commanded positions around it at a distance from it. This direction for arranging the tents shows order rather than confusion. This numbered, orderly arrangement was instituted for the benefit of Israel in the wilderness and reveals God as a God of order and peace, not confusion, who is as particular now as then and has not changed.
The order of the camp and the arrangements connected with the tabernacle were meant to impress Israel with God's majesty and holiness and to show the purity He requires of those who serve Him. They were to reveal His character and government to surrounding nations through Israel's harmony, the exalted character of its work, and each person's faithful performance of an assigned task. The arrangement is faithfully recorded as an example and warning to those upon whom the ends of the world are come, lest they follow Israel's disobedience, murmuring and rebellion and fall as they did, and to teach lessons of order and organization.
The 54,400 is the number counted for Issachar's host in one division of the camp, and no special lesson is attached to the number itself. The same figure of 54,400 is also given as the numbered strength of Reuben's camp within the organized arrangement. The verse is one detail of the perfect order commanded for all the journeyings, in which every tribe bore its own standard marked with the sign of its father's house and camped and journeyed under its own standard in its assigned place.
When Israel traveled the tribes marched in order under their standards in an appointed sequence under clear direction, and when Israel rested the tabernacle was erected and the tribes pitched their tents in their commanded positions around it at a distance from it. This direction for arranging the tents shows order rather than confusion. This numbered, orderly arrangement was instituted for the benefit of Israel in the wilderness and reveals God as a God of order and peace, not confusion, who is as particular now as then and has not changed.
The order of the camp and the arrangements connected with the tabernacle were meant to impress Israel with God's majesty and holiness and to show the purity He requires of those who serve Him. They were to reveal His character and government to surrounding nations through Israel's harmony, the exalted character of its work, and each person's faithful performance of an assigned task. The arrangement is faithfully recorded as an example and warning to those upon whom the ends of the world are come, lest they follow Israel's disobedience, murmuring and rebellion and fall as they did, and to teach lessons of order and organization.